Ancient trails, migration routes, and the sacred geography that connects humanity's scattered refugia.
Vast highways carved by herds over countless generations—boulevards 20-30 meters wide where parallel paths converge. The ground is compacted hard as stone from millions of footfalls, each massive foot pressing down with several tons of force.
These routes likely followed the gentlest gradients across the terrain, connecting seasonal feeding grounds with water sources and sheltered valleys. The paths might persist for tens of thousands of years along the same corridors, maintained by the inherited memory of matriarchs leading their families along routes their ancestors had traveled.
For humans, these mammoth roads were invaluable—ready-made trails through otherwise trackless wilderness, and places where hunters knew prey would eventually pass.
A desperate margin where the mammoth world presses against mountain bones. For most of the year, this route vanishes beneath snowpack and glacial ice, emerging only during brief summer weeks.
Single file in the narrowest sections, where a misstep sends loose rock cascading down slopes too steep for recovery.
The southern mammoth roads transformed into arteries of human commerce—broad tracks cutting through seas of chest-high feather grass. During late summer, they become rivers of fine dust, powder-soft and ankle-deep.
Traditional camping grounds mark each day's journey, where springs emerge and ash circles remember ten thousand campfires.
The subterranean river route—threading through limestone galleries, emerging briefly into daylight between canyon walls, then plunging back into honeycombed earth. A path for the desperate or the determined.
In the depths between emergences, distance loses meaning in endless dark.
Their migratory pattern takes approximately 40-50 days in good weather, following established trade routes that connect thermal spring settlements. Each location provides specific resources: pigments, healing herbs, or sanctuary.
Blessed Springs → Three Rivers → Crossroads Market → Orpiment Quarries → Monastery of Waters → Pilgrim's Rest → Traders' Haven
This circuit connects beautifully to the concept of "the waters remember." Each sacred water source along their route holds different memories and properties, creating a network of power points across the landscape that Diana gradually learns to understand.
Anton's route follows Diana's but in reverse, using his network of informants and "frozen watchers" to track their previous presence. He arrives days or hours after they depart, systematically closing the distance.
Northern Reach → Three Rivers → Crossroads Market → Blessed Springs
From St. Petersburg to Blessed Springs: 8-10 days hard riding in good weather.
Northern stronghold built around ancient thermal vents. Controls northern trade routes and commands view of the steppes. The great house where Diana was born, now seat of The Winter Lord's power.
Distance to Blessed Springs: 8-10 days hard riding
Freezes solid in deepest winter, passable on foot or horseback. Site of the Hermitage of St. Basil—a waypoint for pilgrims and travelers crossing between the northern and southern reaches.
Protected zones where settlements cluster around geothermal vents. Warmer microclimates allow limited agriculture and year-round habitation—precious oases in the frozen world.
Southern boundaries where maps fail. Here live the Stepnye Volki shamans and where ghost orchids bloom during spring floods—a frontier between civilization and the unknown.
The landscape itself becomes a text to be read—certain rock formations, unusual trees, or fossil beds mark important points along the migration route. These natural features have stories attached to them that are retold when travelers pass by.
Learn more about the refugia, ruins, and sacred sites that mark these ancient trails.
World Building →Follow Diana as she travels these routes, learning to read the landscape and understand its sacred geography.
The Story →